


Persuasion

by cynical_mystic



Series: an illusion of Fate [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Cute Kids, Divorce, Eventual Katara/Zuko (Avatar), F/M, Family Fluff, POV Katara (Avatar), POV Zuko (Avatar), Past Aang/Katara (Avatar), somewhere between atla and lok, the timeline might be a bit screwy but bear with me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29606493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynical_mystic/pseuds/cynical_mystic
Summary: Years after their break-up, Katara turns to Zuko when her relationship with Aang falls apart. Their kids immediately hit it off and Katara and Zuko are forcibly reminded of what once was.And maybe, what could still be.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: an illusion of Fate [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2114247
Kudos: 74





	1. Sometimes Hard Things are Made Easy for You

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter structure: Katara's POV | Past POV | Zuko's POV
> 
> I've turned off comments because I'm going through some Stuff (TM) and comments make me anxious.

Katara’s blood was boiling with fury. Her sweet daughter Kya was in her arms, crying the most heart-wrenching tears a child could cry, because Aang had once again taken Tenzin on an airbender vacation, leaving the rest of them on Air Temple Island. The being left behind part didn’t bother Katara; Aang was the Avatar, after all, and once they had children she knew she couldn’t go with him everywhere he needed to be. It was the part where Kya was sobbing in her arms and Bumi was doing his best to cheer her up with promises all three of them knew Aang wouldn’t keep that got to her. As they’d left, Aang had once again told Bumi and Kya that next time he’d take them on their own special adventures.

As Bumi’s eyes met hers, Katara’s heart broke all over again.

“Come on, the two of you,” she said, gently nudging Kya out of her lap and wiping at her tears with a cloth. “We’re going on our own adventure. Bumi, honey, go pack some clothes, enough for a week like we usually do, and then help your sister. You guys can bring three toys each.”

Shocked into no longer crying, Kya nodded and went to her room. Bumi stayed behind, shuffling his feet.

“Where are we going, Mama?” he asked quietly.

“We’re going to go visit Fire Lord Zuko,” Katara said. “He sent me a letter saying his daughter Izumi was having problems making friends, and something tells me the two of you would be good at helping her.”

“We would!” Bumi said, brightening immediately and running off to his room.

Katara went to her and Aang’s room, penned a note that she knew wouldn’t be found until they were long gone, and began to pack her own things.

As her anger ebbed away, Katara kept thinking about how she’d tried again and again to bring Aang’s blatant favoritism to his attention, but he never saw anything wrong. He was a decent enough father when he was here. The problem was, he was hardly ever home and a significant portion of his time away from home was spent taking Tenzin to the various air temples to train and build up the Air Acolytes. Katara couldn’t begrudge Aang’s desire to preserve the culture of his people, but she could blame him for not taking responsibility for his actions.

Katara’s hand hovered over a picture of their little family, Tenzin in her arms, Bumi and Kya in their best clothes. Aang with his arm around her. This was before Tenzin’s airbending manifested and Aang started to act differently towards his other children.

She left the picture and strapped her suitcase shut.

Her last act before bustling her children and their things out the door was to force herself not to think through any potential ramifications of running from her husband to Zuko, the only other man she’d ever loved.

_ The last time they’d seen each other before everything ended was when she was about to get on Appa so Aang could take her, Sokka, Suki, and Toph where they needed to go. Zuko had pulled her aside, away from the others, so they could have a private moment before most of the people he cared about left him. _

_ “Here,” he said, holding out the hawk on his arm. _

_ Katara reached out her own arm and the hawk alighted on her wrist strap. _

_ “He’s beautiful,” she said. _

_ “He’s the best.” _

_ Katara smiled and went to hand the bird up to Suki. Once the bird was safely perched on Appa’s saddle, Katara turned back to Zuko. _

_ “I’m going to miss you,” she said. _

_ Zuko reached out and pulled her close. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her tight, trying to put everything he was feeling into that one hug. He would miss her because he loved her, but also because she was his best friend and he wished with everything he was that she wasn’t leaving him with no one but Iroh. He’d gotten used to being part of the group, to being with her, and he was reluctant to give it up. _

_ “I already miss you,” he whispered into her hair. _

_ “We’ll see each other again,” she said, pulling back to look at him. “Soon.” _

_ Zuko nodded, not comforted by this as neither of them had any idea when soon would be. _

_ “I know.” _

_ “I love you.” _

_ He pulled her to him, kissing her fiercely. They broke apart and touched their foreheads together. _

_ “I love you too,” he breathed. _

_ Knowing she had to go, he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and dropped his arms. _

_ Watching Appa carry away his family broke his heart. _

“Sir, there’s an airship on the landing pad.”

Zuko didn’t look up from what he was working on.

“Isn’t that what the landing pad is for, Finn Lee?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, of course, but this is an unscheduled airship.”

That piqued Zuko’s interest, and he looked up at his personal servant.

“Let’s go check it out, shall we?”

When they got outside, Zuko immediately recognized the airship in question. It was from Air Temple Island.

“Stand down!” he commanded the guards that had surrounded the unexpected airship.

The guards backed away, and the door opened to reveal Katara.

Zuko was speechless. They hadn’t spoken in private company in over a decade, and here she was showing up unannounced on his landing pad. If this had anything to do with his letter, he was surprised. He hardly thought a request to bring her children to meet Izumi would be responded to without a letter sent ahead.

“Zuko,” she said, relieved. “I need your help.”

“Anything,” he said without thinking.

Katara exited the airship and motioned her two oldest children off, their bags on their backs. She handed her bag to a servant that had walked up who immediately recognized her.

“Lady Katara!” the woman said. “It’s a pleasure to have you with us again. Shall I take all your bags?”

Zuko watched, dumbfounded, as Katara handed her bag to the woman and then Bumi and Kya’s as well. Before surrendering Kya’s bag Katara extracted a plush lemur and handed it to the girl, who clutched it to her chest.

“Put them in the Water Tribe suite, Pria,” Zuko said.

“Yes, sir.”

Katara ushered Bumi and Kya towards him, ignoring the look of confusion Zuko was still sure was on his face.

“We’re here to meet Izumi,” she said. “And I need to talk to you.”

“Of course,” Zuko said, stepping back and gesturing for them to approach the palace. “Izumi should be in the courtyard and we can talk in my study. Finn Lee, would you escort the children?”

“Of course, sir.”

Finn Lee crouched down to Bumi and Kya’s level, complimented Kya on her lemur and Bumi on how tall he was, and then asked if he could escort them. Bumi nodded, and Kya reached up to take Finn Lee’s hand.

“Be good, you two,” Katara called.

“We will, Mama,” Bumi assured her.

“Now,” Katara said. “Shall we?”

Zuko offered her his arm, still not sure whether this was real, and escorted her into the building.


	2. You Can't Escape the Consequences of Your Decisions

“I’m leaving Aang.”

Katara watched, amused, as Zuko almost choked on the tea they’d just been served. As he recovered himself and set his own cup down, she took a sip of her own tea. It didn’t taste like anything to her, but she wasn’t surprised. The only tea she enjoyed anymore was from the Jasmine Dragon.

“Forever?” Zuko asked.

She nodded, lowering her cup to its saucer and placing them both on the table between them. The airship ride had been short, but not so short she hadn’t been allowed ample time to consider her options.

“I don’t want to live the life I’ve found myself in anymore, and I don’t want my children to live the way they’ve been living. With an absentee father who cares more about Tenzin than Bumi or Kya and doesn’t even try to hide it.”

Zuko set down his own cup of tea, and Katara studied his features closely. He had been so familiar to her once upon a time, but now she had no idea what he was thinking. A few moments passed before he spoke.

“Are you legally able to divorce him?” Zuko asked.

She was relieved this was his first question.

“We were married in Republic City,” she said. “Under their laws, a woman is allowed to divorce her husband with good reason as determined by the Council. I intend to start writing my petition as soon as possible. Once they receive it, Aang and I will be summoned to appear before them and defend ourselves. If they don’t grant me a divorce, then we can still be separated. I just wouldn’t be able to remarry if I were to ever want to.”

Zuko nodded almost absently for a moment.

“Does Aang know?”

“He will when he and Tenzin return. I left him a letter explaining why I was leaving.”

“Do you think he’ll want Bumi and Kya?”

Katara grimaced. The thought of him demanding her children had occurred to her, but she knew the Council. They wouldn’t take bending children from their same bending parent, and as Bumi was old enough they would probably let him choose.

“He might,” Katara said, “but I don’t think that’ll be an issue. Bumi is old enough to speak for himself, and Kya is a waterbender. They wouldn’t give Aang custody even though he is the Avatar because he’s never shown great respect for the culture.”

“Interesting,” Zuko said. “I hadn’t realized that was the case.”

“A few years ago the Council of Elders in the South wanted Aang to help them research and revive certain cultural practices that were engaged in before the Southern waterbender genocide, and he showed no interest in doing so as Tenzin’s airbending had just manifested. Sokka won’t forget that.”

“Of course. How many waterbenders are in the South now?”

“Oh, hundreds,” Katara said. “But as the North has about a thousand, we still have a way to go. If you count those who have migrated to Republic City, we might get closer.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

_ Katara spent the rest of Aang’s Colony Summit doing her best to hide her pain from her friends. She’d told them what had happened between her and Zuko, but only Suki knew she wasn’t going to give up. Katara was convinced Zuko was pushing her away for some reason, and she was determined to find out why. _

_ When she proposed the idea to him of bringing her students to stay in the Fire Nation for a few weeks, he hesitated. Eventually, however, he extended an invitation to them to stay in the palace for as long as they desired. Thus, as soon as Aang’s Summit was over and he was on his way to setting up Republic City, she went home to gather her students. _

_ To Katara’s dismay, they received a disgustingly formal greeting upon arriving. _

_ “Welcome, Southern waterbenders,” Zuko said, holding his arms out. _

_ She appreciated he was wearing the least threatening clothes in his wardrobe, as it had taken everything she’d had to convince her kids it was okay to come to the Fire Nation. _

_ Zuko dropped his arms and approached them. The kids tried to hide behind Katara, so when he got closer he crouched down to their level. _

_ “I just want all of you to know that I am so sorry you feel you have to be afraid,” he said gently. “I am not like the firebenders your parents knew, and no one here is like them either. You are completely safe here. I want you to even try to have some fun, if you’re up for it.” _

_ Lia, one of the youngest, poked her head out from behind Katara. _

_ “Are we allowed to waterbend here?” she squeaked. _

_ “Of course!” Zuko said. “I’ll even show you the best place to do so in the whole city, if you’d like.” _

_ After a few tense moments, Lia nodded and stepped forward. Zuko held out his hand, and to Katara’s immense surprise, Lia took it. Emboldened, the other children followed Zuko as he led them to the palace fountain. _

_ As she watched him play with her students and go into raptures about their waterbending, Katara’s heart ached. _

Zuko wasn’t sure how to react to the news Katara was going to divorce Aang. On one hand, he was sad for her, as they had truly seemed happy after they’d married. He couldn’t think of a time he hadn’t seen them happy together, but it occurred to him Katara might be very good at hiding just how bad things are while Aang has no idea anything is wrong. Even though they were all adults now, Aang was still very naive in some ways.

“I don’t think we’ll stay here terribly long,” Katara said, shocking him out of his thoughts. “I don’t want to be a burden to you.”

“You wouldn’t be a burden,” Zuko said before he could stop himself. “You and your children can stay here as long as you need to. Truly.”

For the first time that morning, Katara smiled. It warmed Zuko’s heart, and he didn’t want her to leave him ever again, but that was selfish of him. It was his fault they hadn’t made it in the first place.

“We should be getting to lunch,” he said.

“Probably,” Katara agreed. “But I like sitting here and talking to you like this. It reminds me of… old times.”

Zuko nodded.

“I agree,” he said. “I missed you, Katara”

Her eyes widened at this.

“Really,” she murmured. “I thought…”

Zuko didn’t need to prompt her. He knew she thought he didn’t love her anymore, and he didn’t blame her. He’d pushed her away because he was afraid, and had ruined any chance of them being together. He regretted it every day, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.

“I’m truly sorry for how things turned out between us,” he heard himself say.

Katara looked at him, eyes still wide. He waited for her to respond, his heart hammering against his ribs.

“I missed you too, Zuko,” she said finally, her voice rough. “More than you can imagine.”

After a moment of wallowing in their respective thoughts, Katara said, “When do I get to meet Izumi’s mother?”

“You won’t be able to, unfortunately,” Zuko said. “She died giving birth to Izumi. Her mother was my younger sister, you see.”

“Younger sister?”

“After you took the young waterbenders home, I set about searching for my mother. I found her, in disguise and married to her childhood love. They had a little girl. We kept in touch over the years, and after Kya was born my mother showed up on my doorstep with Izumi in a blanket. She said my sister had died giving birth, there was no father, and she herself was too old to care for the baby alone as her husband had died too. So I took her in.”

Zuko looked up to find Katara staring open-mouthed at him.

“What?”

“Zuko…”

He waited, but she didn’t continue.

“We should go to lunch,” he said eventually.

He held out his arm for her again and escorted her to the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on Tumblr at cynical-mystic!


	3. Kids Say the Darndest Things, Don't They?

“Mama!” Kya and Bumi cried as a servant showed them and Izumi into the dining room.

“Hello there!” Katara said, holding out her arms for them.

As her children embraced her, Katara watched Izumi out of the corner of her eye. The young girl greeted Zuko and took her seat calmly, not showing any level of emotion. This concerned Katara, but she quelled it until she could watch the girl more. Perhaps she was just a quiet child.

“How was playing?” she asked her children as Bumi claimed the chair next to hers and Kya sat on her lap.

“It was fun,” Kya said, setting her lemur on the table out of the way of the plates. “Izumi showed us how to feed the turtle ducks, and then Bumi tried to show us how to do a flip and fell!”

“It was kind of funny,” Bumi admitted. “I slipped in the wet grass and didn’t actually get to flip.”

“Well I’m glad you’re okay,” Katara said warmly. “And I’m glad you had fun even though you fell.”

She set Kya down in the seat on her other side, and as they were being served she noticed Izumi staring at her. When the girl locked eyes with Katara she dropped hers immediately.

“How are the turtle ducks doing, Izumi?” Zuko asked.

“Fine,” she said, keeping her eyes down. “The mama duck wouldn’t let the babies come near us, but the papa duck came close and let me pat his head while we fed them.”

“That’s excellent,” Zuko said. “Perhaps once mama duck trusts you, she’ll let you pat the babies.”

“Yes,” Izumi said. “But she won’t let me pat her, so I’m not sure how she’ll know she can trust me.”

“Give it time,” Zuko advised. “Papa duck might be making sure you’re okay for mama duck.”

“You’re right,” Izumi said.

Katara saw Bumi and Kya looking at each other across her, and she didn’t blame them. The exchange was a strange one, and she could tell Izumi was embarrassed to talk in front of her. So she talked to Zuko.

“How are things getting along in the Fire Nation?”

_ The second day of Katara’s visit found Zuko doing his best to avoid her. He was glad he’d managed to ease the children’s fear of the Fire Nation a bit, but he wasn’t sure how to interact with them in general. He also wasn’t sure how to interact with Katara, as he was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong between them. _

_ After lunch, she sought him out and found him tucked away in his study, reading a report from the Fire Sages about the reeducation program. When he heard her knock on his door frame, he looked up. _

_ “Do you need something?” he asked, laying down the report. “Did something happen with the children?” _

_ “No,” Katara said, walking in and sitting down in one of the chairs across from his desk. “We had a good morning training in your courtyard. I just wanted to come see you, as you weren’t at breakfast.” _

_ Zuko looked away from her. _

_ “I wasn’t hungry.” _

_ “Are you avoiding me?” _

_ The young Fire Lord wasn’t surprised she’d managed to hit on exactly what he was doing. She knew him so well it made his heart ache. _

_ “I didn’t think you would want me around,” he said softly. “I was trying to be considerate.” _

_ “Zuko, I want you around,” Katara said. “I came here because I want to figure out what happened between us. I want to fix it.” _

_ Zuko thought about how lost he was the first few weeks after they’d left him alone. About how he’d struggled to find a rhythm in his new life, and once he had he looked up and realized it had been months with no word from Katara. When he picked up the quill to write, he didn’t know how to say what he was feeling so he just… didn’t. And then it was too late. _

_ “I don’t think it’s anything you can fix, Katara,” Zuko said. “You have your life and I have mine. That’s just how it is now.” _

_ “I want us to have a life together.” _

_ Zuko looked up at her and the look on her face tore him apart. _

_ “Really?” he asked. “What about your students?” _

_ “They’ll be finished training in another year.” _

_ Another year without her. _

_ “I can’t do this, Katara,” he said. “I can’t. Not again.” _

_ “They could stay here,” she said softly. “You could help me teach them the forms we developed for cross bending. I’d like them to grow up knowing that firebending isn’t scary and can actually be quite similar to waterbending.” _

_ “Why do you want to have a life with me?” Zuko demanded. “Is it because you think you can help me? Because you think I can help your students? Or is it because you actually want to be with me?” _

_ Katara didn’t say anything for a long time. _

_ “Please, Katara,” Zuko said to the report. “I need to get this done.” _

_ Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod and then rise. _

_ And then she was gone. _

Zuko knew Katara thought his exchange with Izumi was strange, but he also knew it didn’t matter. Izumi only really liked talking about the turtle ducks; whenever he asked her about her studies she said nothing. He had to hear from her tutor how well she was doing. He wondered if talking about school work made her think about the other children who had been so rude to her.

“Everything is going quite well, actually,” Zuko said as they ate. “The reeducation program is being published into school history books now, and children are growing up learning about what actually happened during the war. Not all the gory details, of course, but more accurate than the garbage they were being fed before.”

“What garbage?” Bumi chimed in.

“Well,” Zuko said, considering how best to answer. “Before, when your mother and I were still old enough to be in school, Fire Nation schools taught that the airbenders had a formal military that had been wiped out. When in fact, the air nomads had no such thing. They’d had no need for any military at all until the day they needed it most.”

“Oh,” Bumi said, thinking. “Is that why Dad is so big about the air acolytes?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Well, Dad and Tenzin are gone all the time to work with the Air Acolytes and find more of them. That’s because all the air nomads were killed, right?”

“Yes, I suppose it would be,” Zuko said, glancing at Katara, who was smiling unhelpfully.

“I wish I were an airbender,” Bumi said. “Then maybe Dad would hang out with me more. Like Tenzin.”

“I don’t want you to be an airbender,” Kya said. “Then it’d just be me and mom and that’s no fun!”

“Hey!” Katara objected, throwing Zuko a horrified glance. “That’s not fair, I’m a lot of fun!”

As Zuko watched the exchange between Katara and her children, he felt bad for her. Not only was her husband extremely rude to their children, they knew it and it hurt them. Zuko’s father had been horrible to him, but he hadn’t realized it was horrible until much later. At least his mother had been able to rest knowing he hadn’t known how terrible his father was. Katara had to look at her children every day and deal with their pain.

“I have an idea,” Zuko said as they finished eating. “How about I show you three some firebending forms?”

“But I’m a waterbender!” Kya exclaimed.

“Some firebending forms work for waterbending,” Izumi said. “Papa told me.”

“Really?” Kya asked.

“Really,” Katara said. “I can show you too.”

“But Izumi and I aren’t benders,” Bumi said. “Why should we learn the forms?”

“They’re good exercise,” Izumi said. “And if you ever have to fight someone, they can still work without the bending part.”

With a pang, Zuko remembered a particular episode with one of the girls at Izumi’s school where the other girl had grabbed Izumi and she’d responded by striking the girl in the stomach with a firebending form. It was the first time Zuko had learned Izumi was being bullied, as she’d never said anything to him.

“Come on,” Zuko said, standing and setting his napkin on his plate. “Let’s go try some bending forms.”

Izumi rose from her chair and went to Zuko’s side, while Katara and her children bustled about a bit before following.

As they walked to the courtyard, Zuko absentmindedly reached out and patted Izumi on the head. She looked up at him when he dropped his hand and beamed, making his heart warm.

He glanced over at Katara, who was watching them with a soft look on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on Tumblr at cynical-mystic!


	4. The Princess and the Prince

“Mama, show us your bending!” Kya cried.

Katara smiled. They’d been practicing firebending forms for about an hour before the children got restless. Bumi and Izumi had begun to spar using them, trying to knock the other down. So far neither of them had been hit.

“What do you want to see?”

“I want to see the prince bending!” Kya said.

Katara felt Zuko’s eyes on her as she tried to keep a straight face. She’d known telling her children bedtime stories about a prince who was a great bender would come back on her. But she’d done it anyway, unable to resist telling them about Zuko in some way.

“Okay,” Katara said. “But it takes two people, and Fire Lord Zuko is going to have to help me.”

“Okay!” Kya said, sitting on the grass.

After checking on Bumi and Izumi with a glance, Katara approached Zuko.

“Prince bending?” he asked.

Katara shrugged.

“I needed a way to tell them about you without, you know, telling them who it was about.”

She couldn’t read the expression on Zuko’s face.

“What do I need to do?” he asked.

“Remember how we sparred together for Aang when he was first learning?”

Zuko nodded.

“Do you remember how it started?”

After a moment, Zuko nodded.

“Well then. That’s what it is. And then we just go with it.”

As Katara faced off against the man who had once been the love of her life, she couldn’t help but remember the very last time they’d sparred together.

_ Zuko gave himself one day off a month, and Katara had managed to convince him to use it to help her show her students how firebending and waterbending could mix. They hadn’t really spoken since that day in his study. Katara wasn’t sure how to answer his question anymore. _

_ “Are you ready?” she asked her students, pointedly not looking at Zuko as he did some warm up stretches. _

_ Her students nodded somberly. They had seen the soldiers practicing firebending from afar, but this was the first time they’d be confronted with it right in front of them. She knew they could handle it, and could only hope they knew it. _

_ Katara turned to see Zuko waiting for her. Once he saw her looking his face changed, the darkness sliding over it like a mask, but just for a moment she had seen something else. Longing, perhaps? _

_ “Where shall we start?” Zuko asked, but before he’d finished speaking, she struck. _

_ Zuko weaved in and out of her attacks effortlessly. He knew her so well, and she him, neither was able to actually get a strike in. So they danced, as they had on the bow of that stolen Fire Nation ship and the day Aang started learning firebending. _

_ They flowed through the different bending styles effortlessly, eliciting surprised gasps from the children when a waterbending form produced fire from Zuko’s hands or feet. When Katara executed a particular complicated firebending form, even Zuko seemed impressed. _

_ “You didn’t learn that one from me,” he said as she dodged him. _

_ “I remembered it from Ba Sing Se.” she replied, striking back. _

_ If Zuko hadn’t been so disciplined, Katara knew he would have frozen in surprise. As it was, she managed to use his distraction to get an edge on him and sweep him off his feet. The kids rose to their feet and cheered as Katara approached Zuko as he lay where he fell. _

_ “So you learned it from Azula,” he said quietly, propping himself up on his elbows. _

_ “Yes.” _

_ Zuko nodded thoughtfully. _

_ Katara held out her hand to him and he considered it. After a moment he took it and let her help him to his feet. _

_ She didn’t let go. _

_ Sparring with him had reminded her why she was here. She loved his ferocity, his compassion, his kindness, his unwavering honor. She loved how he dealt with the children, and with his servants. She loved him. _

_ She watched his eyes soften for just a moment as they looked into hers. _

_ Before she could act on it, they were hard again. _

_ “I should go,” he said, gently extracting his hand from hers. _

_ The children rushed her as he walked away, and she only half-heartedly engaged with them. _

_ It was one thing for her to know she loved him. It was another for him to know he loved her. _

When they stopped sparring, Zuko broke out of his memories. Somehow he’d managed to hold his own despite being drowned by the past.

Bumi and Izumi had become distracted from their own sparring by the intensity of Zuko and Katara’s. As they bubbled over with questions directed mostly at Katara, Zuko let himself wallow in his mistakes. He remembered the touch of her skin as she’d helped him to his feet, the look on her face as she looked into his eyes. He’d known she loved him. He’d always known she loved him.

But somewhere, deep inside of him, while he’d been alone for that year, he’d doubted. He’d doubted whether he was worthy of her. Whether he was really what she wanted. Whether he deserved her.

So he’d pushed her away, and regretted it every moment since.

“Fire Lord Zuko, can Izumi and I show you what we’ve been doing?” Bumi broke through Zuko’s thoughts and brought him back to the present.

“Of course,” Zuko said.

He and Katara sat on the grass next to Kya and Bumi and Izumi got started. He was surprised to find they were quite evenly matched, as Izumi was five years younger. Her smaller size gave her an advantage over Bumi’s strength, and in the end she managed to slip through his defences and knock him off his feet.

As they clapped their praise for their children, Zuko and Katara exchanged a glance. He knew she was thinking the same thing he was in this moment, and that she had also been distracted during their bout. 

The move Izumi used had been the same one Katara had used to literally sweep him off his feet all those years ago.

“Where did you learn that move, Izumi?” Zuko asked.

“You.”

He felt Katara’s eyes on him as he looked at his daughter, confused.

“When?”

“When you practice in the morning, it’s the one you use the most,” she said. “I always get up to watch you practice from my window.”

“How about you start getting up and practicing with me?” Zuko asked, avoiding Katara’s eyes.

“Okay.”

As they left the children to their own devices, Zuko didn’t know how to act around Katara anymore. Their children had broken so many barriers so inadvertently, and he felt a little raw from the experience. He hadn’t let himself miss her for so long he wasn’t sure he remembered how to.

“Prince bending, huh?” he said finally, just to say something.

“Yes,” Katara said. “It’s their favorite bedtime story.”

“How did that get started?”

“Kya asked me for a story about my friends. Bumi wanted a story with fighting. So I told them our story.”

“Our story?”

Katara nodded.

“The prince gets the princess in the end, though,” she said, her voice thick. “So I guess it isn’t really our story.”

“Katara--”

When she stopped walking and turned her eyes onto him, he lost it. His voice was gone, he could barely breathe. The only thing that existed for him in that moment was the clear blue of her eyes. The same eyes her children had.

Her children with Aang.

“Yes?” she asked quietly.

He shook his head.

“Zuko--”

She tried to grab his sleeve, but he was already walking away.

“Dinner is at seven,” he said over his shoulder, barely knowing what he was doing, let alone saying. “Let the servants know if you need anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on Tumblr at cynical-mystic!


	5. The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall

Flustered, Katara took the opportunity to spend the rest of the afternoon unpacking their clothes. As she worked, she managed to calm down and get herself to think.

“You’re a married woman,” she chided herself under her breath.

How was it that after all these years, Zuko was still the one who got under her skin the most effectively? He drove her crazy, and this whole thing was crazy, because she was still married. What had driven her to the Fire Nation instead of her brother’s home? Or even the Southern Water Tribe, where she and Aang kept a second house?

After a moment of systematically organizing and reorganizing Bumi’s clothes, she sighed.

When she’d most needed someone, she’d come to Zuko. Of course she had.

She still loved him.

After her failed final attempt to fix what she and Zuko had had, she’d told herself to move on. And she had, in a way. Once Aang had grown up a bit she’d found him quite pleasing physically, and reasoned that raising the next generation of airbenders couldn’t possibly be as bad as she’d told Zuko it would be.

In the end, of course, it’d turned out worse than she could have imagined.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to regret her children. If she hadn’t married Aang, they wouldn’t exist, and she’d never wish them away. For the past twenty years she’d been happy with Aang, doing life together and raising their children. It wasn’t until Tenzin’s airbending manifested that things went south.

And when they went south, they went further south than the Southern Water Tribe.

The moment Tenzin’s airbending manifested and she saw the look on Aang’s face, everything wrong with their relationship was thrust into the forefront. She was forced to confront the fact he’d been a pretty absentee father the entire time, running off every chance he got to the various air temples to supervise the Air Acolytes. When Aang started taking Tenzin with him, Bumi and Kya started to notice Aang’s absences more.

No matter how many times Katara brought this up with him, Aang refused to change, making empty promises both of them knew he wouldn’t keep.

“He wasn’t always like that,” Katara mumbled as she tucked the other two stuffed animals Kya had brought under the blanket of her bed. “He used to always keep his promises.”

Until the entire world got in the way.

Until his priorities shifted.

Until he loved his culture and his same bending son more than he loved his wife or their other two children.

Katara put Bumi and Kya’s bags inside her own suitcase and snapped it shut aggressively.

“Just because I’m leaving my husband doesn’t mean I can go starting something with someone else,” she whispered.

_ Or continuing it _ , a voice inside her whispered.

_ The last day they were in the Fire Nation, Katara sought Zuko out one final time. _

_ When she found him in his study, she stood in his doorway for several moments, trying to decide how to approach him. _

_ “I’m not a squirrel cat, Katara,” he said, not looking up at her. “I won’t run away from you.” _

_ “It feels like you will,” she admitted, entering and sitting across from him once again. _

_ “What can I do for you?” he asked once he’d set down his quill. _

_ “I came to say goodbye. We’ll be leaving pretty early in the morning and I didn’t want to interrupt your morning routine.” _

_ Zuko looked like he wanted to say something, but then he nodded. _

_ “I’ll miss you,” Katara whispered. _

_ “I’ll miss you too,” Zuko said quietly, eyes falling to his desk. _

_ They sat together for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts. _

_ “I guess this is it then,” she said finally. _

_ Zuko nodded. _

_ “I’ll see you around then.” _

_ Katara stood, but as she turned to walk away she heard Zuko get to his feet. _

_ She turned to look at him, and that look from before was all over his face. Longing, definitely, but there was also something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. _

_ “Katara, I…” Zuko said. _

_ His fists clenched at his sides as he struggled for the words. _

_ “I’m sorry,” he breathed. _

_ A glimmer of hope sprung to life in her chest. _

_ “I shouldn’t have been so rude while you were here,” he continued. “We could have spent so much time together and I wasted all of it.” _

_ “I could stay,” she said, knowing that if he asked, she would. _

_ Katara could tell Zuko wanted to say yes. _

_ But then the darkness slowly creeped back into his eyes, and her glimmer of hope died. _

_ “No, you should be with your students,” Zuko said, unclenching his fists and reaching down to shuffle some papers. _

_ Katara nodded, unwilling to let this be the last moment they had alone together. _

_ “I was wondering,” she said slowly. _

_ He paused his fidgeting. _

_ “Are we still friends?” _

_ Zuko nodded slowly. _

_ “Then could I have a goodbye hug?” _

_ She watched him take a long, deep breath. _

_ And to her surprise, he took a few long strides around his desk and pulled her into his arms. _

_ She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him as close as she physically could, not wanting him to escape her grasp again. He did the same, tightening his arms around her until they almost hurt. She could feel his heart hammering against his ribs, just as hers probably was. _

_ After a few moments, he loosened his grip, so she did as well. _

_ He pulled out of her embrace and took a step back. _

_ “Goodbye, Katara,” Zuko said. _

_ She nodded, afraid if she opened her mouth she would sob. _

_ Zuko leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and it was all she could do to get back to her room and shut the door before losing control completely. _

“You’re such a fool,” Zuko cursed himself once he returned to his room.

“She’s married,” he groaned, collapsing into his favorite chair.

In only a few hours, Katara and her children had broken down the wall Zuko had carefully built around himself. It was one thing to love her from a distance and be civil in person, but it was another thing to have her living in his home and get to know her all over again. And get to know her children.

They were such good kids, and they were good to Izumi too.

An image formed in the back of Zuko’s mind, a picture of the five of them together, similar to the one she’d sent him of her own family not long after Tenzin had been born. 

He shook his head furiously. Just because she was divorcing Aang didn’t mean she wanted him.

She definitely wasn’t divorcing Aang for him, and he felt terrible at the thought that his clumsiness might be influencing her to leave her husband and break up her family.

While he knew her reasons for leaving were legitimate, he couldn’t help but think that as her friend and as Aang’s friend, he had to stay out of it as much as he could. Nothing good would come out of Zuko falling in love with her again. Or letting himself continue to love her, as the case may be.

Zuko changed into his evening robe and reached up to pull his topknot out so he could comb through it.

As the hair fell around his face, he looked in the mirror and froze.

He thought about her messing with his hair, trying to get it to lay over his scar so he could go into town with them.

He thought about her running her fingers through his hair, just because she wanted to touch him.

Zuko turned away from the mirror, shaking his head furiously.

“She doesn’t love you anymore,” he muttered angrily as he combed out his hair and put it back up. “She has a husband and kids and a life without you. She doesn’t need you.”

But right now, she did.

And despite everything, he knew he would do whatever it took to take care of Katara and her children.

Even if she didn’t love him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on Tumblr at cynical-mystic!

**Author's Note:**

> Check me out on Tumblr at cynical-mystic. Chapter previews are posted there every Wednesday.


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